Ridiculous
by jalyn712
Summary: A dinner interrupted.


He was standing there with egg on his face. Literally.

And, she was trying to suppress her fit of giggles. It wasn't working, though.

Exactly what he'd thought he was doing for her, earlier, she could only guess. But, his attempt to 'help' had backfired and culminated in this literal mess. One she knew she'd be cleaning up, but she was okay with that. Because she'd be laughing her butt off the entire time. Even if it was only on the inside.

For his part, he was trying not to stew. Food pun. Great. He'd only jumped in because he'd thought she'd needed help. How was he to know they had only been fooling around? It's not like it was something he'd seen her do very often. Well, not recently, anyway. Yet, he now stood covered in food. Noticing his reflection in the window, he could see how silly he looked. Yes, he saw the egg on his face. And, no, the situation was not lost on him. He just couldn't laugh about it, right now.

Breaking off from her mostly-unsuppressed fit of giggles, she asked, "What...?" and couldn't finish. The laughter had kicked back in, so she bit her lips together. She knew it wasn't that funny, but she couldn't help it. Maybe, she'd been working too hard.

He tried not to glare at her, but he wasn't very successful.

He'd come back to the office because he'd sincerely felt guilty for asking her to follow-up with a lead, while he'd kept his date for the evening. He supposed the Fates had just given him what he rightly deserved. Still, he wasn't finding the humor in it.

How was he to know that she'd kept her own dinner date - something she'd never even mentioned to him - after finishing up early with the lead? To which, a part of him made the mental note to strengthen his focus where she was concerned. Because, until a few seconds ago, she'd stood in front of the elevator giving a nice goodbye to a proverbial "tall, dark, and handsome" - one with whom he was completely in the dark. Which he didn't like, at all.

Though, both men had nodded to one another, strictly as courtesy, before the elevator doors had closed. One nod that simultaneously acknowledged their mutual dislike and grudging acceptance that they'd be seeing one another again. They would be civil for her.

"I'm sorry for cutting into your evening, CJ. I had no idea you were only...." He wouldn't articulate what he'd misinterpreted. Hmph. With another man. In his office. Though, considering his own lifestyle and the fact that he'd just come from cutting dinner short with another woman, he had nothing to complain about. Not really. Besides, who was he to judge? Especially when she so rarely squeezed time for fun into her schedule. Okay - he really didn't want to go too far with that train of thought.

At the same time he was trying to corral his thoughts, she took the few steps to the table and grabbed a couple of napkins. She loved fried rice, but now, she had another reason to like it - remembering the foolish picture Matt now painted, as he stood in front of her. He'd caused the recent scuffle with her date, and she'd had to quickly step in before it got messier. The thought made her chuckle, again.

She said, "I can only imagine what you were thinking, and I appreciate you wanting to rescue me, for lack of a better term, but I promise you that I need rescuing a whole lot less than you think I do." She smiled at him briefly, before wiping the rice with bits of egg and veggies from his hair, face, and shoulders.

"Hmph," was all he said in response.

Satisfied that she'd gotten all of the remains, she crouched to pick up what had landed on the floor. Too funny. While she was doing so, she politely asked, "So, did _you _have a nice dinner?"

Not wanting to rise to any bait - because he knew that she was itching to tease him full-throttle - he only mumbled, "Mm-hm."

"That's nice," she said musically and stood upright.

Looking him in they eye, she said, "You know, we're just dating. And, you can afford to be nice, especially after this." It was a command, not a request.

At first, he only stared back at her. He wanted to tell her that he and the would-be had already given each other "the nod," but she wouldn't understand man code. So, he gave her his look that said he understood what she was saying.

And, when he saw that that clearly wasn't enough for her, he responded with, "I will be civil to him, CJ. I promise." Though, he would eventually give himself a wider berth with it. And, when she got mad at him for that, he'd start the whole process over again. But, he really hoped Joe-Shmoe wouldn't be around that long.

"Good," she said. But, she knew full well how things would go down from here. Such first impressions between Houston and the men she dated were tantamount to another failed relationship for her. Not that she'd felt this was "the one," anyway.

With that, she asked Matt, "So, _did _you have a nice evening? Before this, of course." Tongue-in-cheek.

He sighed. "Yes, CJ. I was having a nice evening - clear up until I left early to come back and help you with that lead. If I had known you'd be otherwise engaged, I would have carried on, myself."

The bite in his comment really ticked her off.

"Well, if you'd paid any attention to our earlier conversation, you'd have been more in-the-know." Refusing to say anymore and give in to a full-blown argument, she just glared at him.

Feeling chastised, as he should have, his hackles crumbled. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted. I just...wasn't expecting that...."

She rolled her eyes. "It's not like we were doing something sordid. It's called dancing."

"Yeah, well, from my angle...."

"Don't even try it. That was innocent, and you know it. Though, I imagine walking in on 'the dip' was a little disconcerting." She stopped there because she knew there had also been a little making out involved, too, and she wanted to spare him from discussing it. His cheeks were getting red enough, already. She smiled inwardly.

"Yes. Well...." His sentences had dwindled to having no endings.

"So. Would you like to hear what I found out?" she asked him, trying to change the subject.

He looked at her warily. "About what?"

'Please,' she thought.

"About the lead," she replied. "I'm openly changing subjects, Houston. So, would you like to know what I found out, after you left?"

He hesitated but answered, "No, not tonight. I think business can wait until tomorrow."

"Alright," she said and went to gather and put away the Chinese containers.

Feeling braver, he tried his turn at teasing. "I'd ask if you've had dessert, and offer to take you out, but..." and left it open-ended with the inference obvious.

Knowing how he was goading her on purpose, she merely replied, "Yes, and it seems I had a little more than you did, tonight." She looked over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes.

For some reason, that made him smile. This whole situation was ridiculous, and he'd certainly not appreciated it very much while it was happening. But, it was ending with them getting back to their normal bantering. This was what he like the most about them, too - the sometimes-snarky volleying they shared when no one else was around. Goading, teasing, occasionally even downright evil.

And, he loved that about her. She could give it and take it, equally. She wasn't as frilly on the inside as she appeared to be.

One day, they'd get their acts together and really _get _together. Until then, they'd keep on loving one another like this - openly, yet covertly, and with the hint of more things to come.


End file.
